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How GitHub Cleared 100K Tickets with a Custom AI-Powered Zendesk System
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How GitHub Cleared 100K Tickets with a Custom AI-Powered Zendesk System
GitHub turned to Andela to rapidly deploy a high-impact team of technical experts, ready to power an AI-driven support architecture of intelligent escalation, optimized support workflows, and deep code-level troubleshooting. By combining advanced technology with expert-level talent, GitHub’s support operation was reinvented from a critical bottleneck to a strategic engine for customer success and growth.
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Snapshot
Duration
April 2024 – Ongoing
Team Size
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+ 56 Andela specialists.
Technical Domains
API Integration & Security
ML Classification
Analytics & Data Visualization
Microservices Architecture
Tech Stack
Zendesk
Linux
Git
Bash
Golang
Ruby
ChatGPT
Splunk
Sentry
Kusto Query Language
100K
Tickets/yr cleared
4.61
CSAT Score
100%
SLAs consistently met
3X
Reduced Resolution Times
TL;DR
- 100,000 unresolved support tickets threatened GitHub's customer trust and enterprise growth.
> Business Problem - Andela technologists operated GitHub's AI-driven Zendesk platform for scalable performance.
> Solution - 56-person engineering team organized across four specialized units delivered enterprise-scale support.
> The Team - Support architecture operated as a strategic product using Go, KQL, AI models, and GitHub's internal systems.
> The Tech - GitHub cleared 100K tickets, achieved 4.6+ CSAT, and transformed support into a strategic growth asset.
> The Impact
BUSINESS PROBLEM
A 100K-Ticket Backlog Put Trust, Growth, and Efficiency at Risk
GitHub, widely recognized for its powerful internal tools and seamless integrations such as Zendesk, has built a dependable support system to manage customer inquiries. However, an overwhelming backlog of 100,000 unresolved tickets began to strain their operations, hindering efficiency and impacting response times. With customer satisfaction at risk, it became evident that immediate action was required to eliminate bottlenecks and restore the high standard of service their users expected.
Trust and Loyalty at Risk
As support delays mounted, GitHub's reliability reputation eroded, frustrating developers and organizations who depended on the platform.
Revenue Growth Threatened
Renewal rates were threatened because enterprise customers experienced delays that directly impacted their ability to deliver software on schedule.
Operational Resource Burn
Microsoft's 18-month rotation contractor policy created costly turnover cycles, diverting resources from innovation to endless retraining.
THE SOLUTION
An AI Custom-Built Zendesk System, Powered by Andela’s Managed Support Experts
Serving millions of developers and organizations daily, GitHub built a robust customer support system centered around Zendesk, deeply integrated with its proprietary internal tools. This framework was designed to ensure rapid, reliable service at scale, combining automation with human expertise:
AI-Driven Ticket Management
ML models and Go-based scripts automate ticket triage—categorizing, prioritizing, and routing issues at scale.
API-Aware Self-Resolution
A dynamic, API-integrated knowledge base helps developers resolve issues independently, adapting to platform changes.
Integrated Tools for Rapid Resolutions
Dashboards and scripts leveraging Go, Bash, and Ruby connect Zendesk to GitHub repos, enabling code-level issue tracing.
Data-Driven Optimization
Tools like KQL and Splunk surface trends from tickets and logs, driving workflow improvements and SLA compliance.
Handing Off the Baton to Andela's Engineer Support Team
To eliminate the growing backlog without disrupting operations, GitHub partnered with Andela to build a fully managed support solution using highly skilled technical engineers who could run, optimize, and evolve GitHub's custom Zendesk framework; not just to staff queues, but to actively improve the entire support architecture from internal systems to debugging dashboards.
- Expert, Scalable Support Teams: Andela staffed GitHub with 56 skilled engineers who resolved tickets and continuously optimized the support stack using GitHub's internal tools.
- Seamless Integration: Andela's teams leveraged GitHub's existing infrastructure including Zendesk, Slack, and internal systems without disrupting workflows.
- Framework Optimization: Andela engineers identified and refined inefficiencies in tagging, labeling, and queue workflows to improve speed and accuracy.
- End-to-End Ownership: Andela's support engineers handled everything from advanced CI/CD troubleshooting to sensitive data removal with GitHub's technical standards and user empathy.
THE TEAM
A Support System Built for Developers, Powered by Developers (56 of Them)
To resolve GitHub’s scale, complexity, and compliance challenges, Andela assembled a 56-person support engineering team of technically fluent developers organized into four specialized squads covering Account Security and Billing, Compliance, Enterprise, and Technical Support. Each squad was led by an experienced Team Lead. These engineers brought deep expertise in GitHub's tech stack including Zendesk, Linux, KQL, Splunk, and AI tools, enabling them to not only resolve tickets but optimize workflows and improve internal systems while embedding seamlessly into GitHub's ecosystem without requiring new integrations.
Technical Support Leads
Jeffrey Ogah
Account Security and Billing
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Jeffrey Ogah
Account Security and Billing
Focused on less technical issues, such as billing inquiries, account lock-outs, and 2FA support.
Auth Systems
Payment APIs
Security Protocols
Anastasia Rotich
Compliance
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Anastasia Rotich
Compliance
Assists users with account takeovers, spam/flagged issues, ownership disputes, username requests, and trade restrictions.
Auth Systems
Compliance Automation
Data Protection
Maureen Oki
Enterprise
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Maureen Oki
Enterprise
Managed deployment-related challenges, often requiring Linux expertise for diagnosing server-side or networking errors. Focused on offloading the influx of tickets related to GitHub Copilot and other high-demand services.
Large-Scale Deployment
Enterprise Integration
SSO
Oluwaseun Ayodeji
Technical Support
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Oluwaseun Ayodeji
Technical Support
Handled mid-level tasks like debugging technical errors and assisting users with config-related issues.
Git Internals
API Troubleshooting
CI/CD
We don’t develop or customize Zendesk internally; instead, we excel at managing, categorizing, and rapidly resolving large volumes of tickets. Our approach relied on drive, technical knowledge, and a relentless focus on clearing a backlog of 100,000 tickets in under a year.
Oluwaseun Ayodeji
Technical Support
THE Tech
Driving Resolution Through AI, Automation, and Deep System Integration
GitHub’s support stack was built for developer-grade complexity and speed. Its deeply integrated Zendesk system—enhanced by automation, Copilot, and AI tools—was tightly connected to engineering workflows. This enabled intelligent, high-velocity operations where tickets were auto-triaged, enriched with context, and routed to engineers with the technical fluency to resolve them, laying the foundation for scalable, high-quality outcomes.
- KQL: Used to query customer data and logs—tracking error histories, user behavior, or contribution patterns to isolate issues quickly.
- Splunk: Employed for log analysis, especially around authentication workflows or server-side anomalies across enterprise accounts.
- Sentry: Monitored application-level errors in real time, supporting debugging efforts by surfacing relevant stack traces and issue trends.
- Linux and Git: Used to reproduce issues via workflow simulations in customer environments, particularly for enterprise teams running GitHub on self-hosted or Linux-based systems.
Zendesk Implementation
Andela’s engineers operated directly within GitHub’s Zendesk environment to resolve issues at scale. Trained on internal systems and workflows, they used historical data, automation, and AI-powered triage to identify patterns, prioritize accurately, and continuously improve queue performance.
- Centralized Ticket Routing: All inbound tickets were funneled into Zendesk for structured triage and SLA-based management.
- Categorization and Collaboration: Engineers labeled tickets, added notes, and routed issues to the right GitHub teams.
- Analytics and Reporting: Metadata was tracked for trends, enabling proactive insights and performance optimization.
- System Integration: Custom Zendesk flows linked tickets to GitHub repos for faster debugging and resolution.
Our process requires deep knowledge of Git, Linux, and networking. To reproduce customer issues, we’ll write scripts, analyze logs, and understand the full software development lifecycle, all to deliver precise solutions and streamline customer support at scale
Oluwaseun Ayodeji
Technical Support
Impact
The ROI of Turning Technical Support Into a Strategic Asset
When GitHub faced increasing operational challenges, they needed a partner capable of delivering immediate, innovative solutions. Andela emerged as the clear choice, bringing a proven track record of expertise, agility, and scalability. From mastering Github’s internal support frameworks and tools, to resolving 100,000 tickets and maintaining an average CSAT score of 4.6+, this powerful collaboration empowered GitHub to not only overcome pressing obstacles but also scale for future success.
100K
Resolved customer tickets
Cleared all support tickets within one year.
4.61
Customer Satisfaction Score
Maintained a consistent CSAT score.
100%
Service Level Achievement
Consistently met all SLAs for one year.
47
GitHub Trained Experts
With additional certifications in CoPilot, Admin, Actions, and Advanced Security.
3X
Reduced Wait Times
Dramatically improved customer experience through faster resolution.
18 Months
Bypassed Microsoft's Rule
Removed contractor 18 months limitation to maintain knowledge and expertise.
Partner With Andela
Whether you need individual technologists or fully managed teams, we can transform your support operations from a cost center into a strategic advantage that enhances your brand and offering.
